Tech

Mashable's Best Tech of CES 2014

LAS VEGAS — At CES 2014, more than 3,000 exhibitors are showing off tens of thousands of new products, from gigantic curved 4K televisions to tiny versatile computer chips. Companies from all over the world put forth their latest and greatest, declaring their products to be the most innovative item at the show this year.

They can't all be right. That's why we've selected the very best — the few products that truly stand out from the pack — for Mashable's Best Tech of CES. We've stood directly in the path of the CES firehose that spews announcements, unveilings and product launches, cast aside the pile of duds and not-quite-good-enoughs, and found the real innovators.

As the biggest technology show of its kind, CES showcases a broad spectrum of products. In selecting our picks, we sought for a balance of traditional categories (think TVs) as well as newer, forward-looking technologies (think wearables). And services that interact with both factor in as well.

To keep things sane and digestible, we put a cap of 10 on the number of products. While that doesn't even approach how many kinds of products are represented at the show, there aren't that many categories with an announcement that really turns your head and makes you want to look closer.

And yes, there are the goofy, oddball and incredibly bold product launches, and no list of what stood out at CES would be complete without one or two of them. While the commercial future of these products is often uncertain, there's no doubt they'll be remembered.

For many emerging consumer technologies, such as wearables, their entire future seems uncertain. Not so with drones. As controversial as they sometimes are, drones feel almost inevitable. Whether they're delivering Amazon purchases or general amusement, as Parrot's MiniDrone does, they do so with sublime execution — the kind of thing that makes you say, "Oh wow."

While far from the first flying toy, the MiniDrone upgrades the experience with more sensors and two TIE figher-esque wheels that help it scale up walls safely. Parrot didn't have a price or release date, but hopefully we won't have to wait until the FAA gets more friendly to such amazing toys.

Building a huge 4K TV is table stakes. Building one with a curved screen shows you're a serious player. But building it with LCD technology rather than a flexible OLED display and then stretching it to a cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio wins you the game.

LG's 105-inch 105UC9 isn't the largest 4K TV at CES (that would be Vizio's 120-inch monster), but it's definitely one of the most impressive feats of consumer display technology we've ever seen. It's also one of the most obscenely priced, at $69,999.

Fingerprint scanning is so five minutes ago. EyeLock's myris aims to take iris scanning mainstream with a mouse-size device that plugs into your computer's USB port. The big idea: Whenever you want to log into a site or service, just hold it up, look a the sensor, and your eye becomes your password.

EyeLock says the iris is a more secure biometric than a fingerprint since the chance of a false positive is much lower (not even identical twins have the same iris patterns). Eventually it plans to help manufacturers build iris scanners directly into products, but baby steps: First the myris needs to go on sale, which is scheduled for the first half of 2014.

Everyone expected Nvidia to unveil the Tegra 5. Instead the company surprised with the K1 — an incredibly powerful mobile processor with 192 cores that leverages Nvidia's experience with supercomputing. The new Tegra has the potential to bring console-level games, with stunningly realistic graphics, to mobile devices. Both 32- and 64-bit versions are coming, and they may even outperform Apple's chips... at least until the next iPhone debuts.

If any smartwatch is a success, it's the Pebble. The Kickstarter-backed wearable inspired the category, but it had painted itself stylistically in a corner — the colorful plastic exterior was fun, but not chic. Enter the Pebble Steel. What's inside stays the same, but just as a new suit or dress can transform a person, the Pebble is reborn for a whole new audience with its metallic new look.

Critics of 4K often say, "Sure it looks great, but where's the content?" There are scant few options for owners of the TVs to get true 4K content, so Sony went ahead and let them create their own with the FDR-AX100 Handycam. Not only is it significantly more compact than Sony's previous "prosumer" 4K offering, but it's way cheaper, too: The 4K camcorder costs just $2,000. Your home movies have never looked so good. Really.

Say "solar-powered concept car," and the mind immediately conjures a picture of a squat vehicle with long, articulating panels and no practicality — the ultimate dorkmobile. That's why Ford's C-MAX concept is incredibly refreshing: It's a solar car you'd actually want to drive. Given its logically placed an unobtrusive rooftop panels and the claim that the sun could fuel 75% of its trips, it makes you wonder why every car isn't solar powered.

Take one look at the June, and it immediately makes all other wrist wearables look cheap. Netatmo did the right thing by partnering with a professional designer to ensure its bracelet was something its customers would actually want to wear. Then it did one better by keeping the June simple; it has the solitary function of protecting its wearer from excessive sun exposure. If only all wearables were so stylishly practical.

Three-dimensional printing is a transformative technology, but the future of easily replicated objects is difficult to imagine when the only thing you see printed in demonstrations is tiny figurines. The Makerbot Z18 is just what the category needed: a huge 3D printer made for creating large objects (think bowls, lamps or even small pieces of furniture) or up to 10 small ones simultaneously. And the cost ($6,499) still keeps it within the realm of reality.

Who ordered that? Curved screens were the first step toward fully bendable products, and now we're there thanks to Samsung's bold unveiling of the first bendable TV. Tap a button on the remote and the 85-inch TV literally bends to your will, giving you a supposedly superior curved picture. The set is just a prototype, and may never come to market, but either way, it'll be one of the unveilings for which CES 2014 will be remembered.

Mashable's Best Tech of CES 2014

For many emerging consumer technologies, such as wearables, their entire future seems uncertain. Not so with drones. As controversial as they sometimes are, drones feel almost inevitable. Whether they're delivering Amazon purchases or general amusement, as Parrot's MiniDrone does, they do so with sublime execution -- the kind of thing that makes you say, "Oh wow."

While far from the first flying toy, the MiniDrone upgrades the experience with more sensors and two TIE figher-esque wheels that help it scale up walls safely. Parrot didn't have a price or release date, but hopefully we won't have to wait until the FAA gets more friendly to such amazing toys.

Building a huge 4K TV is table stakes. Building one with a curved screen shows you're a serious player. But building it with LCD technology rather than a flexible OLED display and then stretching it to a cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio wins you the game.

LG's 105-inch 105UC9 isn't the largest 4K TV at CES (that would be Vizio's 120-inch monster), but it's definitely one of the most impressive feats of consumer display technology we've ever seen. It's also one of the most obscenely priced, at $69,999.

Fingerprint scanning is so five minutes ago. EyeLock's myris aims to take iris scanning mainstream with a mouse-size device that plugs into your computer's USB port. The big idea: Whenever you want to log into a site or service, just hold it up, look a the sensor, and your eye becomes your password.

EyeLock says the iris is a more secure biometric than a fingerprint since the chance of a false positive is much lower (not even identical twins have the same iris patterns). Eventually it plans to help manufacturers build iris scanners directly into products, but baby steps: First the myris needs to go on sale, which is scheduled for the first half of 2014.

Everyone expected Nvidia to unveil the Tegra 5. Instead the company surprised with the K1 -- an incredibly powerful mobile processor with 192 cores that leverages Nvidia's experience with supercomputing. The new Tegra has the potential to bring console-level games, with stunningly realistic graphics, to mobile devices. Both 32- and 64-bit versions are coming, and they may even outperform Apple's chips... at least until the next iPhone debuts.

If any smartwatch is a success, it's the Pebble. The Kickstarter-backed wearable inspired the category, but it had painted itself stylistically in a corner -- the colorful plastic exterior was fun, but not chic. Enter the Pebble Steel. What's inside stays the same, but just as a new suit or dress can transform a person, the Pebble is reborn for a whole new audience with its metallic new look.

Critics of 4K often say, "Sure it looks great, but where's the content?" There are scant few options for owners of the TVs to get true 4K content, so Sony went ahead and let them create their own with the FDR-AX100 Handycam. Not only is it significantly more compact than Sony's previous "prosumer" 4K offering, but it's way cheaper, too: The 4K camcorder costs just $2,000. Your home movies have never looked so good. Really.

Say "solar-powered concept car," and the mind immediately conjures a picture of a squat vehicle with long, articulating panels and no practicality -- the ultimate dorkmobile. That's why Ford's C-MAX concept is incredibly refreshing: It's a solar car you'd actually want to drive. Given its logically placed an unobtrusive rooftop panels and the claim that the sun could fuel 75% of its trips, it makes you wonder why every car isn't solar powered.

Take one look at the June and it immediately makes all other wrist wearables look cheap. Netatmo did the right thing by partnering with a professional designer to ensure its bracelet was something its customers would actually want to wear. Then it did one better by keeping the June simple; it has the solitary function of protecting its wearer from excessive sun exposure. If only all wearables were so stylishly practical.

3D printing is a transformative technology, but the future of easily replicated objects is difficult to imagine when the only thing you see printed in demonstrations is tiny figurines. The Makerbot Z18 is just what the category needed: a huge 3D printer made for creating large objects (think bowls, lamps or even small pieces of furniture) or up to 10 small ones simultaneously. And the cost ($6,499) still keeps it within the realm of reality.

Who ordered that? Curved screens were the first step toward fully bendable products, and now we're there thanks to Samsung's bold unveiling of the first bendable TV. Tap a button on the remote and the 85-inch TV literally bends to your will, giving you a supposedly superior curved picture. The set is just a prototype, and may never come to market, but either way, it'll be one of the unveilings CES 2014 will be remembered for.

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